best genealogy websites of 2012 - part 1

May P. ChanEmail: maychan@reginalibrary.ca

Prairie History Room, Regina Public Library©2012

Outline

“The Usual Suspects”

Brief Introduction

“By Record Type” – e.g. BMDs

“Crossing the Pond” – eg. English

“Other Noteworthy Research Tools”

Why do you need such a list?

Not all genealogy websites are the sameSome require a paid subscription (per view or

monthly) or are free; some provide only images, an index (points you to the original source), etc.; some are created by libraries/archives/genealogical societies while others are done by volunteers

List of online resources is not meant to replace “traditional” formats like books & microfilm. Rather the list is meant to be used “in addition to”

List features both paid $ and free web resources

CriteriaOffers the most authoritative and trustworthy

websites to use for genealogyHow did I select the best genealogy websites

for you to use? Annual “Best of” featured on the Family

Tree website: http://www.familytreemagazine.com/

Magazines such as Internet Genealogy & Family Chronicle

Various genealogy blogs Tips from other genealogists Personal experience helping patrons

“The Usual Suspects”

These websites consistently top the “Best of the Best” online resources to use: Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com or

http://www.ancestry.ca) - $ (ALE is free through RPL – Central Library only!)

Canadian Genealogy Centre (Library& Archives Canada; http://www.genealogy.gc.ca/) – FREE

FamilySearch (http://www.familysearch.org) – FREE

Cyndi’s List (http://www.cyndislist.com/) – FREE

Tip # 1 – Canadian Genealogy CentreMicrofilm Digitization Page

http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/microform-digitization/index-e.html

Tip #2 – FamilySearch.org

Browse by Location Feature

“By Record Type”

Births, Marriages & Deaths Indexes (BMDs) Nova Scotia Historical Vital Statistics (https://

novascotiagenealogy.com/) – FREE British Columbia Vital Events Indexes (

http://search.bcarchives.gov.bc.ca/sn-5B37DD3/gbsearch/Births,Marriages,Deaths) - FREE

Manitoba Vital Records (http://vitalstats.gov.mb.ca/Query.php) – FREE

Free BMD (UK; http://www.freebmd.org.uk/) – FREE

DeathIndexes (US; http://www.deathindexes.com/) – FREE

“By Record Type” – continued

Census Records Automated Genealogy (Canada; http://

www.automatedgenealogy.com) - FREE

Tip # 3 - “One to Keep An Eye Out For…”

National Archives and Records Administration’s (NARA) 1940 website - will be launching April 2, 2012 (http://1940census.archives.gov/) - FREE

“By Record Type” – continued

Cemetery Records SGS Burial Index (http://

www.saskgenealogy.com/databases/indexes.aspx) - $

Canada’s GenWeb Cemetery Project (http://cemetery.canadagenweb.org/search.html) - FREE

Deceased Online (UK; http://www.deceasedonline.com) – $

Interment.Net (Global; http://www.interment.net/) - FREE

“By Record Type” - continued

Find A Grave (Global; http://www.findagrave.com) - FREE

“By Record Type” – continued

City Directories Peel’s Prairie Provinces (AB, MB & Saskatoon;

http://peel.library.ualberta.ca/henderson.html) - FREE

British Columbia’s City Directories, 1860-1940 (http://www.vpl.ca/bccd/index.php) - FREE

Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec (BAnQ) (Quebec; http://www.banq.qc.ca/collections/collection_numerique/index.html?categorie=1) - FREE

City Directories - continued

Toronto City Directories 1833-1899 (http://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/digital-archive/) - FREE

Distant Cousins (US; http://distantcousin.com/Directories) - FREE

Historical Directories of UK (http://historicaldirectories.org/hd/) – FREE

Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI) (http://www.proni.gov.uk/index/search_the_archives/street_directories.htm) - FREE

“By Record Type” – continuedImmigration & Passenger Lists

Ellis Island (New York, US; http://www.ellisisland.org/) - FREE

Castle Garden (New York, US; http://www.castlegarden.org) - FREE

Bremen Passenger Lists, 1920-1939 (Germany; http://db.genealogy.net/maus/gate/index_en.html) – FREE

Immigrant Ships Transcribers Guild (ISTG) (Global; http://www.immigrantships.net/) - FREE

The Ships List (Global; http://www.theshipslist.com/) – FREE

Ship Index (Global; http://www.shipindex.org/) - $

Tip #4 – Really Interesting Database…

Swiss Refugee Database 1942-1945 (Switzerland; http://etat.geneve.ch/dt/archives/a_votre_service-liste_refugies-1700.html) – FREE

“By Record Type” – continued

Local/Family/General Histories Heritage Quest - $ (FREE through RPL –

Central Library only!) Our Roots (Western Canada; http://

ourroots.ca) - FREE Canadiana (http://www.canadiana.ca/en/home

) - FREE Google Books (http://books.google.com/) -

FREE Internet Archives (http://archives.org) - FREE Family Histories Archives (

http://www.lib.byu.edu/fhc) – FREE

“By Record Type” – continued

Maps Canadian County Atlases (Ontario; http://

digital.library.mcgill.ca/countyatlas) - FREE Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names

Online (global; http://www.getty.edu/research/tools/vocabularies/tgn) - FREE

Cassini Maps (UK; http://www.cassinimaps.co.uk) - FREE

Perry-Castaneda Library Map Collection (global; http://lib.utexas.edu/maps) – FREE

David Rumsey (global; http://www.davidrumsey.com/) – FREE

Tip # 5 – Really Cool Map!!!

Atlas of the German Empire by Ludwig Ravenstein (Europe; http://library.wisc.edu/etext/ravenstein) – FREE

“By Record Type” – continued

Military Records Saskatchewan Virtual War Memorial (

http://www.svwm.ca) – FREE Commonwealth War Graves Commission

(British Commonwealth; http://www.cwgc.org/) - FREE

Civil War Soldiers & Sailors System (US; http://www.itd.nps.gov/cwss/) - FREE

National Archives & Records Administration: Military Resources (US; http://www.archives.gov/research/alic/reference/military/) - FREE

Tip # 6 – War of 1812 Ancestors

Fold3 (http://www.fold3.com/) - $ except for War of 1812 Pension Files!!!

“By Record Type” – continued

Newspapers Google News (US & Canada;

http://news.google.com) - FREE Chronicling America (US;

http://www.loc.gov/chronicling america/) - FREE British Newspapers, 1800-1900 (

http://newspapers.bl.uk/blcs) - $ International Coalition on Newspapers (ICON)

(global; http://icon.crl.edu/digitization.htm) - FREE Newspaper Abstracts (http://

www.newspaperabstracts.com/) - FREE

“Crossing the Pond”

English Genealogy FindMyPast (http://www.findmypast.co.uk/) - $

(available through SGS) British Origins (http://www.britishorigins.com)

– $ Genuki (http://genuki.org.uk) – FREE London Lives 1690-1900 (

http://www.londonlives.org) - FREE

“Crossing the Pond – continued”

Scottish Genealogy Scotland’s People (

http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk) - $

“Crossing the Pond – continued”

Irish Genealogy The National Archives of Ireland (

http://nationalarchives.ie) – FREE Ireland Gen Web (http://irelandgenweb.com) –

FREE Irish Family History Foundation (

http://www.irish-roots.ie/) – $

“Crossing the Pond – continued”Scandinavian Genealogy

Digital Archives of Norway (http://arkivverket.no/eng/Digital-Archives) – FREE

Swedish National Archives (http://www.svar.ra.se) – FREE

Arkivdigital (Sweden; http://www.arkivdigital.net) – $

Finnish Family History Association (FFHA) (http://www.sukuhistoria.fi/sshy/index_eng.htm) – FREE

Danish Demographic Database (http://www.ddd.dda.dk) - FREE

“Crossing the Pond – continued”

Eastern European Genealogy HalGal (Western Ukraine & Galicia;

http://www.halgal.com) – FREE EastEuropeGenWeb (

http://www.rootsweb.com/~easeurgw) – FREE Federation of East European Family History

Societies (http://feefhs.org) – FREE PolishRoots (http://www.polishroots.org/) -

FREE

“Crossing the Pond – continued”

Western European Genealogy German Roots (Germany; http://

www.germanroots.com/) – FREE The German Genealogy Network (http://

www.genealogienetz.de/genealogy.html) - FREE

GeneaNet (France; http://www.geneanet.org/) – FREE

Genelias (Holland; http://www.genlias.nl/en/page0.jsp) – $

Italian Heritage and Home Page (Italy; http://www.daddezio.com/) - FREE

“Other Noteworthy Research Tools”

Search Engines Mocavo (http://www.mocavo.com/) - FREE One-Step Web Pages (http://

stevemorse.org/) – FREESoftware & Hardware Reviews

GenSoftReviews (genealogy software; http://www.gensoftreviews.com) – FREE

CNET (software and hardware; http://www.cnet.com/) - FREE

“Other Noteworthy Research Tools”

Tech Tools Google Translate

(http://translate.google.com/) – FREE Google Earth

(http://www.google.com/earth/index.html) - FREE

Evernote (online notes ; http://www.evernote.com) – FREE

XnView (screen capturing & basic photo editing; http://www.xnview.com/) - FREE

“Other Noteworthy Research Tools”

Staying Up-to Date Prairie History Blog (

http://www.reginalibrary.ca/prairiehistoryblog/) - FREE

Dick’s Eastman’s Newsletter (http://blog.eogn.com/) – FREE

Ancestry Insider (http://ancestryinsider.blogspot.com/) - FREE

Genealogy Blog Finder (http://blogfinder.genealogue.com/) - FREE

Tip #9 – online genealogy articles

Hobbies and Craft Reference Center (http://www.reginalibrary.ca/databases/db_hobbies.html) – FREE w/ Regina Public Library Card Full text of Family Chronicle (2009-2012) and

Internet Genealogy (2009-2012)